Evangelista's DQ loss to Aina sours "Strikeforce Challengers" debut

A solid “Strikeforce Challengers” debut event ended on a sour note with the early stoppage and Mike Aina‘s disqualification win over previously undefeated Billy Evangelista.

The fight, which took place at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif., capped off the first-ever Strikeforce Challengers event on Showtime.

The series was designed to showcase the organization’s top prospects, but the spotlight went out early during the night’s main event.

After a competitive first round, Evangelista took the fight to the ground in the second and took control with damaging blows. However, as Aina put his back to the cage and attempted to get to his feet, Evangelista blasted him with an apparent knee to the mouth as both Aina’s right hand and right knee remained on the mat.

Replays of the blow proved inconclusive, and it wasn’t clear exactly where and how cleanly the knee landed.

Regardless, though, the illegal blow forced a temporary stoppage, and after a consultation with the doctor, referee Herb Dean called a permanent stop to the fight at 3:40 of the second round.

The crowd booed the stoppage, and the fans also booed Aina’s inability to shake off the effects of the blow.

“Whether he wanted to continue or not, the doctor assessed that his jaw may be broken, and on his advice, the fight was stopped,” Dean said.

“I could feel a shooting pain up to me ear,” said Aina, clinching the jaw on the right side of his face.

Aina (12-6-1), a former EliteXC fighter, picked up his third straight victory with the DQ. However, he’s unlikely to do much celebrating.

“I don’t want to take this as a win,” said Aina, who didn’t count out the possibility of a rematch. “I’m not going to take it as a win. If it was my choice, I’d take it off my record.”

With the loss, Evangelista (9-1), one of Strikeforce’s top lightweight prospects, suffered his first defeat in 10 professional fights.

In the night’s co-main event and the card’s only female bout, Miesha Tate (5-2) couldn’t defeat Sarah Kaufman (9-0), but she did what no other opponent could: survive a full three rounds.

Kaufman’s crisp and fearless striking earned her the first round, and though Tate initially had trouble scoring a takedown, she finally took the fight to the mat in the second. However, because Strikeforce’s women’s bouts use three-minute rounds (rather than the standard five minutes), ground-whiz Tate didn’t have the time she needed to really put together submission attempts.

Even her opponent admitted the rounds went by quickly.

“The three minutes are very fast, so it’s really hard to get something going continually,” Kaufman said.

Kaufman stormed back in the third round, avoided the takedown attempts and continually battered the outmatched Tate while standing. Tate survived the round, but all three judges scored the bout in her opponent’s favor, 29-28.

Kaufman, who replaced Kim Couture when she dropped out of the fight a few weeks ago, entered the bout with eight knockout wins in eight career fights. For the first time she was taken to decision, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

“I definitely think I hit her with some tough shots,” Kaufman said.

In the main card’s only heavyweight bout, hard-hitting Lavar Johnson (12-3) needed just 18 seconds to stop and knock out cold EliteXC vet Carl Seumanutafa (4-3).

Johnson patiently threw jabs before countering Seumanutafa with an uppercut as he shot for his first takedown. Johnson’s punch landed squarely and instantly put Seumanutafa to sleep.

For Johnson, a WEC and PFC veteran who’s now won five straight fights, the win was simply a matter of implementing the perfect strategy.

“That was my game plan – keep my jab on his face and counter during the takedown,” Johnson said.

However, when Rosa sprawled to avoid his opponent’s takedown attempts and ultimately scored his own double-leg takedown of Ruiz, a submission soon followed.

Rosa (12-2) quickly advanced to the mount position, Ruiz (21-3) was forced to give up his back, and he tapped out from the rear-naked choke soon after.

Ruiz desperately looked for a way out, but the referee was forced to intervene and call a halt to the bout when the fighter appeared to go unconscious. The end came at the 4:29 mark of the first round.

In the night’s first televised bout, Bao Quach (16-9-1) dominated the first two rounds – and survived the third – to win a unanimous decision over fellow featherweight Tito Jones (6-3).

After a slow start to the fight, Quach took over in the second with a dominant stand-up game and crisp striking. Quach was up two rounds to none when Jones landed a right hook and dropped his opponent early in the third.

However, Jones allowed his opponent to circle away for a good minute, which gave a clearly dazed Quach time to recover and survive for the win.

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